Frequently asked questions
We eat nourishing food. The leftover scraps and offcuts rot if buried in landfills, but can be reused to feed garden-variety microbes in a suitable compost maker.
You must aerate kitchen scraps very well, or else they become a smelly mushy mess. With proper aeration through mixing or Bioverter’s bespoke air flow system, their goodness is returned to your soil as compost rich in nutrients.
Bioverter is designed to stop this undesirable situation from happening. Wastes in compost bins and tumblers start to smell if they aren't mixed enough and run out of oxygen.
Bioverter ensures a constant flow of air to your wastes automatically, which prevents problems due to a lack of oxygen.
Bioverter aerates itself, which means that it doesn't produce smells that attract unwelcome visitors like rats and bugs.
Troublesome smells can be caused by inappropriate selection of waste in a compost bin or tumbler, or a lack of proper aeration. The smell may be faint or even undetectable by you.
Bioverter has been used trouble-free in Melbourne, Australia for several years without any external protectors.
It is possible to add worms if you are eager to produce farmed (red and tiger) worm castings.
However, we strongly recommend cultivating free-range earthworms in your garden by feeding them Bioverter's compost harvests. Earthworms naturally improve the soil as they burrow deep in your garden and also produce nutritious worm casts.
Bioverter's groundbreaking design lets you know when to harvest. Waste put in at the top automatically descends as it transforms into compost. A pull out collector at the bottom gathers fresh compost for you to harvest.
Picking the right time to harvest compost is important when using a compost bin or tumbler. Every time you mix a bin or tumbler, the wastes are jumbled up and materials that are nearly ready for harvesting end up among raw waste. This means you have to mix everything to aerate the dispersed raw waste, and delay your harvest till when you decide all the compost is ready.
Your fresh compost harvest is packed with nutrients recovered from kitchen scraps. However, as with all freshly made compost, plants cannot utilise the goodies at this stage.
Fresh compost can harm plants if used carelessly. It is safer and simpler to rest your harvest in a sheltered spot. Leave it to evolve naturally into a much more beneficial soil-like state.
We suggest three convenient ways to optimise your compost benefits - create fresh topsoil, soil superfood or enriched potting mix.
Fully rested compost is dark and crumbly. It feels, looks and smell like rich soil. It works like a nourishing sponge, releasing nutrients and water when required by plants. You can mix rested compost with soil or potting mix, or use it to turn clay or sand into soil.
Compost juice is a new innovation that can’t be created with traditional composting systems. Bioverter creates this unique product from kitchen scraps with high water content such as fruits and vegetables.
Soil probiotics, soluble nutrients and humus substances are the ingredients that make compost juice valuable for the health of your garden soil and plants.
It is easy to harvest and use compost juice straight away. Pull out its collector, pour the juice into a watering can, add water to dilute it, and then apply the diluted compost juice to your soil or plants.
While it can work in either, Bioverter works better when positioned to account for the climate you live in.
In Australia, the sun can get scorching hot, so try not to put Bioverter in full sun for the whole day. Shade it from the intense midday and afternoon sun if you can.
Shading Bioverter in summer also helps to slow the loss of compost juice by evaporation. You could use potted plants or other barriers to shade at least its base. On very hot days, adding one or two cups of water can help to rehydrate your materials before harvesting compost juice the next day.
On the flip side, catching some morning sun can help to take the chill away in an area with cold nights.
Don't forget to consider ease of access too - Bioverter is insulated for weather protection, so it's okay to sacrifice some shade for a more convenient location.
The Bioverter unit is 90cm tall with a square 38cm x 38cm base - almost the size of a small wheelie bin.
It is designed to be compact and handy for households with limited space, while producing enough output for keen gardeners.
Bioverter units have been used for years without any issues. They successfully dealt with kitchen wastes generated by households of between 1 and 4 occupants.
Each unit is made out of polypropylene, which is a food safe, durable and recyclable plastic. The base uses the same type of polypropylene found in ice cream and yoghurt containers. A foam variant is used to insulate its upper portion. The whole unit is UV protected to ensure longevity.
You should continue to put garden waste in compost bins. These standard systems are well suited to garden waste and make a perfect companion system to Bioverter. Kitchen scraps will stink and rot in a normal compost bin if mixed inadequately, but Bioverter can handle them without any outside help.
Compost bins are handy for dealing with hard waste such as corn cobs, avocado and mango stones, and food-stained pizza boxes. Excluded from Bioverter, these wastes usefully diversify garden waste in compost bins.
Bioverter is well suited to small space composting. You can use its compost juice to water plants, and use compost harvests to enrich your soil or soilless potting mix.
Freshly made compost has limited applications compared with its mature form. Bioverter simplifies the process of harvesting and resting in a plant pot, enabling you to produce nutrient-dense improvers of potting material.